First for Foremen

Ford Motor Co. last week finally made up its mind about the question roiling Detroit (TIME, May 15): are foremen laborers or an arm of management? By signing a contract with the aggressive Foreman's Association of America, an independent union, Ford answered: foremen are laborers. This was the first formal contract which the two-and-a-half-year-old union had won from management.

The contract omitted the closed shop and checkoff which spry old Henry Ford had granted U.A.W.-C.I.O. But the company recognized the F.A.A. as bargaining agent for its 9.000 foremen, hoped that the contract "will produce better relations between the company and the foremen."

Other Detroit companies meantime maintained strenuous disagreement with Ford's definition. In 13 plants, some 3,300 F.A.A. members continued on strike for union recognition. War production slumped, in some cases 50%, as workers floundered about without supervision. While the National Labor Relations Board and the War Labor Board debated on how they should treat F.A.A., Packard shut down and sent its 39,000 workers home. With foremen missing, Army inspectors feared faulty workmanship and refused to accept any more Packard motors (Rolls-Royce motors for Mustang fighters. Mosquito bombers). In stubborn anguish the potent Automotive Council for War Production (which includes all auto-makers), warning in large newspaper ads that recognition of the foremen's union would mean letting labor leaders "take over the management of our war production plants," appealed to the President and Congress to do something.

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